The Book of Jonah - Sunday, March 27, 2022 - 11am Service

March 27, 2022 · Harmony of the Gospels

Listen Transcript Study guide Save

Series · Harmony of the Gospels · Week 10 of 36

Scripture referenced 10 passages

The passage this message was preached from, in full, with every other passage it reached for.

Jonah 1-4 primary text, walked through the entire book

1:1 Now Yahweh’s word came to Jonah the son of Amittai, saying,
1:2 “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and preach against it, for their wickedness has come up before me.”
1:3 But Jonah rose up to flee to Tarshish from the presence of Yahweh. He went down to Joppa, and found a ship going to Tarshish; so he paid its fare, and went down into it, to go with them to Tarshish from the presence of Yahweh.
1:4 But Yahweh sent out a great wind on the sea, and there was a mighty storm on the sea, so that the ship was likely to break up.
1:5 Then the mariners were afraid, and every man cried to his god. They threw the cargo that was in the ship into the sea to lighten the ship. But Jonah had gone down into the innermost parts of the ship, and he was laying down, and was fast asleep.
1:6 So the ship master came to him, and said to him, “What do you mean, sleeper? Arise, call on your God! Maybe your God will notice us, so that we won’t perish.”
1:7 They all said to each other, “Come, let us cast lots, that we may know who is responsible for this evil that is on us.” So they cast lots, and the lot fell on Jonah.
1:8 Then they asked him, “Tell us, please, for whose cause this evil is on us. What is your occupation? Where do you come from? What is your country? Of what people are you?”
1:9 He said to them, “I am a Hebrew, and I fear Yahweh, the God of heaven, who has made the sea and the dry land.”
1:10 Then the men were exceedingly afraid, and said to him, “What have you done?” For the men knew that he was fleeing from the presence of Yahweh, because he had told them.
1:11 Then they said to him, “What shall we do to you, that the sea may be calm to us?” For the sea grew more and more stormy.
1:12 He said to them, “Take me up, and throw me into the sea. Then the sea will be calm for you; for I know that because of me this great storm is on you.”
1:13 Nevertheless the men rowed hard to get them back to the land; but they could not, for the sea grew more and more stormy against them.
1:14 Therefore they cried to Yahweh, and said, “We beg you, Yahweh, we beg you, don’t let us die for this man’s life, and don’t lay on us innocent blood; for you, Yahweh, have done as it pleased you.”
1:15 So they took up Jonah, and threw him into the sea; and the sea ceased its raging.
1:16 Then the men feared Yahweh exceedingly; and they offered a sacrifice to Yahweh, and made vows.
1:17 Yahweh prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah, and Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.
2:1 Then Jonah prayed to Yahweh, his God, out of the fish’s belly.
2:2 He said, “I called because of my affliction to Yahweh. He answered me. Out of the belly of Sheol I cried. You heard my voice.
2:3 For you threw me into the depths, in the heart of the seas. The flood was all around me. All your waves and your billows passed over me.
2:4 I said, ‘I have been banished from your sight; yet I will look again toward your holy temple.’
2:5 The waters surrounded me, even to the soul. The deep was around me. The weeds were wrapped around my head.
2:6 I went down to the bottoms of the mountains. The earth barred me in forever: yet have you brought up my life from the pit, Yahweh my God.
2:7 “When my soul fainted within me, I remembered Yahweh. My prayer came in to you, into your holy temple.
2:8 Those who regard lying vanities forsake their own mercy.
2:9 But I will sacrifice to you with the voice of thanksgiving. I will pay that which I have vowed. Salvation belongs to Yahweh.”
2:10 Then Yahweh spoke to the fish, and it vomited out Jonah on the dry land.
3:1 Yahweh’s word came to Jonah the second time, saying,
3:2 “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and preach to it the message that I give you.”
3:3 So Jonah arose, and went to Nineveh, according to Yahweh’s word. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly great city, three days’ journey across.
3:4 Jonah began to enter into the city a day’s journey, and he cried out, and said, “In forty days, Nineveh will be overthrown!”
3:5 The people of Nineveh believed God; and they proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from their greatest even to their least.
3:6 The news reached the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, and took off his royal robe, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in ashes.
3:7 He made a proclamation and published through Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles, saying, “Let neither man nor animal, herd nor flock, taste anything; let them not feed, nor drink water;
3:8 but let them be covered with sackcloth, both man and animal, and let them cry mightily to God. Yes, let them turn everyone from his evil way, and from the violence that is in his hands.
3:9 Who knows whether God will not turn and relent, and turn away from his fierce anger, so that we might not perish?”
3:10 God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way. God relented of the disaster which he said he would do to them, and he didn’t do it.
4:1 But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was angry.
4:2 He prayed to Yahweh, and said, “Please, Yahweh, wasn’t this what I said when I was still in my own country? Therefore I hurried to flee to Tarshish, for I knew that you are a gracious God, and merciful, slow to anger, and abundant in loving kindness, and you relent of doing harm.
4:3 Therefore now, Yahweh, take, I beg you, my life from me; for it is better for me to die than to live.”
4:4 Yahweh said, “Is it right for you to be angry?”
4:5 Then Jonah went out of the city, and sat on the east side of the city, and there made himself a booth, and sat under it in the shade, until he might see what would become of the city.
4:6 Yahweh God prepared a vine, and made it to come up over Jonah, that it might be a shade over his head, to deliver him from his discomfort. So Jonah was exceedingly glad because of the vine.
4:7 But God prepared a worm at dawn the next day, and it chewed on the vine, so that it withered.
4:8 When the sun arose, God prepared a sultry east wind; and the sun…

World English Bible · Read it in another translation
Keep this verse

Matthew 12:38-40

Pharisees and scribes demanding a sign, Jesus citing the sign of Jonah

38 Then certain of the scribes and Pharisees answered, “Teacher, we want to see a sign from you.”

39 But he answered them, “An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, but no sign will be given to it but the sign of Jonah the prophet.

40 For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the whale, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.

World English Bible · Read it in another translation

Keep this verse

Acts 1

disciples casting lots to choose between two candidates to replace Judas

1 The first book I wrote, Theophilus, concerned all that Jesus began both to do and to teach,

2 until the day in which he was received up, after he had given commandment through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom he had chosen.

3 To these he also showed himself alive after he suffered, by many proofs, appearing to them over a period of forty days, and speaking about God’s Kingdom.

4 Being assembled together with them, he commanded them, “Don’t depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which you heard from me.

5 For John indeed baptized in water, but you will be baptized in the Holy Spirit not many days from now.”

6 Therefore when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, are you now restoring the kingdom to Israel?”

7 He said to them, “It isn’t for you to know times or seasons which the Father has set within his own authority.

8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you. You will be witnesses to me in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the uttermost parts of the earth.”

9 When he had said these things, as they were looking, he was taken up, and a cloud received him out of their sight.

10 While they were looking steadfastly into the sky as he went, behold, two men stood by them in white clothing,

11 who also said, “You men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into the sky? This Jesus, who was received up from you into the sky, will come back in the same way as you saw him going into the sky.”

12 Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mountain called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, a Sabbath day’s journey away.

13 When they had come in, they went up into the upper room, where they were staying; that is Peter, John, James, Andrew, Philip, Thomas, Bartholomew, Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus, Simon the Zealot, and Judas the son of James.

14 All these with one accord continued steadfastly in prayer and supplication, along with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers.

15 In these days, Peter stood up in the middle of the disciples (and the number of names was about one hundred twenty), and said,

16 “Brothers, it was necessary that this Scripture should be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit spoke before by the mouth of David concerning Judas, who was guide to those who took Jesus.

17 For he was counted with us, and received his portion in this ministry.

18 Now this man obtained a field with the reward for his wickedness, and falling headlong, his body burst open, and all his intestines gushed out.

19 It became known to everyone who lived in Jerusalem that in their language that field was called ‘Akeldama,’ that is, ‘The field of blood.’

20 For it is written in the book of Psalms, ‘Let his habitation be made desolate. Let no one dwell therein;’ and, ‘Let another take his office.’

21 “Of the men therefore who have accompanied us all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us,

22 beginning from the baptism of John, to the day that he was received up from us, of these one must become a witness with us of his resurrection.”

23 They put forward two, Joseph called Barsabbas, who was also called Justus, and Matthias.

24 They prayed, and said, “You, Lord, who know the hearts of all men, show which one of these two you have chosen

25 to take part in this ministry and apostleship from which Judas fell away, that he might go to his own place.”

26 They drew lots for them, and the lot fell on Matthias, and he was counted with the eleven apostles.

World English Bible · Read it in another translation

Keep this verse

Acts 2

Pentecost comes and lots are no longer used to discern God's will

1 Now when the day of Pentecost had come, they were all with one accord in one place.

2 Suddenly there came from the sky a sound like the rushing of a mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting.

3 Tongues like fire appeared and were distributed to them, and one sat on each of them.

4 They were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and began to speak with other languages, as the Spirit gave them the ability to speak.

5 Now there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men, from every nation under the sky.

6 When this sound was heard, the multitude came together, and were bewildered, because everyone heard them speaking in his own language.

7 They were all amazed and marveled, saying to one another, “Behold, aren’t all these who speak Galileans?

8 How do we hear, everyone in our own native language?

9 Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and people from Mesopotamia, Judea, Cappadocia, Pontus, Asia,

10 Phrygia, Pamphylia, Egypt, the parts of Libya around Cyrene, visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes,

11 Cretans and Arabians: we hear them speaking in our languages the mighty works of God!”

12 They were all amazed, and were perplexed, saying to one another, “What does this mean?”

13 Others, mocking, said, “They are filled with new wine.”

14 But Peter, standing up with the eleven, lifted up his voice, and spoke out to them, “You men of Judea, and all you who dwell at Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and listen to my words.

15 For these aren’t drunken, as you suppose, seeing it is only the third hour of the day.

16 But this is what has been spoken through the prophet Joel:

17 ‘It will be in the last days, says God, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh. Your sons and your daughters will prophesy. Your young men will see visions. Your old men will dream dreams.

18 Yes, and on my servants and on my handmaidens in those days, I will pour out my Spirit, and they will prophesy.

19 I will show wonders in the sky above, and signs on the earth beneath; blood, and fire, and billows of smoke.

20 The sun will be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and glorious day of the Lord comes.

21 It will be that whoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved.’

22 “Men of Israel, hear these words! Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved by God to you by mighty works and wonders and signs which God did by him among you, even as you yourselves know,

23 him, being delivered up by the determined counsel and foreknowledge of God, you have taken by the hand of lawless men, crucified and killed;

24 whom God raised up, having freed him from the agony of death, because it was not possible that he should be held by it.

25 For David says concerning him, ‘I saw the Lord always before my face, For he is on my right hand, that I should not be moved.

26 Therefore my heart was glad, and my tongue rejoiced. Moreover my flesh also will dwell in hope;

27 because you will not leave my soul in Hades, neither will you allow your Holy One to see decay.

28 You made known to me the ways of life. You will make me full of gladness with your presence.’

29 “Brothers, I may tell you freely of the patriarch David, that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day.

30 Therefore, being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that of the fruit of his body, according to the flesh, he would raise up the Christ to sit on his throne,

31 he foreseeing this spoke about the resurrection of the Christ, that his soul wasn’t left in Hades, and his flesh didn’t see decay.

32 This Jesus God raised up, to which we all are witnesses.

33 Being therefore exalted by the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured out this, which you now see and hear.

34 For David didn’t ascend into the heavens, but he says himself, ‘The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit by my right hand,

35 until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.”’

36 “Let all the house of Israel therefore know certainly that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.”

37 Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?”

38 Peter said to them, “Repent, and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

39 For the promise is to you, and to your children, and to all who are far off, even as many as the Lord our God will call to himself.”

40 With many other words he testified, and exhorted them, saying, “Save yourselves from this crooked generation!”

41 Then those who gladly received his word were baptized. There were added that day about three thousand souls.

42 They continued steadfastly in the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and prayer.

43 Fear came on every soul, and many wonders and signs were done through the apostles.

44 All who believed were together, and had all things in common.

45 They sold their possessions and goods, and distributed them to all, according as anyone had need.

46 Day by day, continuing steadfastly with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread at home, they took their food with gladness and singleness of heart,

47 praising God, and having favor with all the people. The Lord added to the assembly day by day those who were being saved.

World English Bible · Read it in another translation

Keep this verse

Isaiah 6

Isaiah's prayer of repentance, 'I am a man of unclean lips'

1 In the year that king Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up; and his train filled the temple.

2 Above him stood the seraphim. Each one had six wings. With two he covered his face. With two he covered his feet. With two he flew.

3 One called to another, and said, “Holy, holy, holy, is Yahweh of Armies! The whole earth is full of his glory!”

4 The foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke.

5 Then I said, “Woe is me! For I am undone, because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell among a people of unclean lips: for my eyes have seen the King, Yahweh of Armies!”

6 Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar.

7 He touched my mouth with it, and said, “Behold, this has touched your lips; and your iniquity is taken away, and your sin forgiven.”

8 I heard the Lord’s voice, saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” Then I said, “Here I am. Send me!”

9 He said, “Go, and tell this people, ‘You hear indeed, but don’t understand; and you see indeed, but don’t perceive.’

10 Make the heart of this people fat. Make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and turn again, and be healed.”

11 Then I said, “Lord, how long?” He answered, “Until cities are waste without inhabitant, and houses without man, and the land becomes utterly waste,

12 And Yahweh has removed men far away, and the forsaken places are many within the land.

13 If there is a tenth left in it, that also will in turn be consumed: as a terebinth, and as an oak, whose stock remains when they are felled; so the holy seed is its stock.”

World English Bible · Read it in another translation

Keep this verse

Luke 5:8

Peter saying 'I am a thoroughly sinful man, get away from me'

8 But Simon Peter, when he saw it, fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, Lord.”

World English Bible · Read it in another translation

Keep this verse

Psalm 51

David's prayer, 'against you and you only have I sinned'

1 Have mercy on me, God, according to your loving kindness. According to the multitude of your tender mercies, blot out my transgressions.

2 Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity. Cleanse me from my sin.

3 For I know my transgressions. My sin is constantly before me.

4 Against you, and you only, I have sinned, and done that which is evil in your sight; that you may be proved right when you speak, and justified when you judge.

5 Behold, I was born in iniquity. In sin my mother conceived me.

6 Behold, you desire truth in the inward parts. You teach me wisdom in the inmost place.

7 Purify me with hyssop, and I will be clean. Wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.

8 Let me hear joy and gladness, That the bones which you have broken may rejoice.

9 Hide your face from my sins, and blot out all of my iniquities.

10 Create in me a clean heart, O God. Renew a right spirit within me.

11 Don’t throw me from your presence, and don’t take your holy Spirit from me.

12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation. Uphold me with a willing spirit.

13 Then I will teach transgressors your ways. Sinners shall be converted to you.

14 Deliver me from the guilt of bloodshed, O God, the God of my salvation. My tongue shall sing aloud of your righteousness.

15 Lord, open my lips. My mouth shall declare your praise.

16 For you don’t delight in sacrifice, or else I would give it. You have no pleasure in burnt offering.

17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit. A broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.

18 Do well in your good pleasure to Zion. Build the walls of Jerusalem.

19 Then you will delight in the sacrifices of righteousness, in burnt offerings and in whole burnt offerings. Then they will offer bulls on your altar.

World English Bible · Read it in another translation

Keep this verse

Psalm 139

David's prayer, 'search me, oh God, cleanse me'

1 Yahweh, you have searched me, and you know me.

2 You know my sitting down and my rising up. You perceive my thoughts from afar.

3 You search out my path and my lying down, and are acquainted with all my ways.

4 For there is not a word on my tongue, but, behold, Yahweh, you know it altogether.

5 You hem me in behind and before. You laid your hand on me.

6 This knowledge is beyond me. It’s lofty. I can’t attain it.

7 Where could I go from your Spirit? Or where could I flee from your presence?

8 If I ascend up into heaven, you are there. If I make my bed in Sheol, behold, you are there!

9 If I take the wings of the dawn, and settle in the uttermost parts of the sea;

10 Even there your hand will lead me, and your right hand will hold me.

11 If I say, “Surely the darkness will overwhelm me; the light around me will be night”;

12 even the darkness doesn’t hide from you, but the night shines as the day. The darkness is like light to you.

13 For you formed my inmost being. You knit me together in my mother’s womb.

14 I will give thanks to you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Your works are wonderful. My soul knows that very well.

15 My frame wasn’t hidden from you, when I was made in secret, woven together in the depths of the earth.

16 Your eyes saw my body. In your book they were all written, the days that were ordained for me, when as yet there were none of them.

17 How precious to me are your thoughts, God! How vast is their sum!

18 If I would count them, they are more in number than the sand. When I wake up, I am still with you.

19 If only you, God, would kill the wicked. Get away from me, you bloodthirsty men!

20 For they speak against you wickedly. Your enemies take your name in vain.

21 Yahweh, don’t I hate those who hate you? Am I not grieved with those who rise up against you?

22 I hate them with perfect hatred. They have become my enemies.

23 Search me, God, and know my heart. Try me, and know my thoughts.

24 See if there is any wicked way in me, and lead me in the everlasting way.

World English Bible · Read it in another translation

Keep this verse

Psalm 86

compared to Jonah's cry from the fish, 'on my day of trouble I will call out to you'

1 Hear, Yahweh, and answer me, for I am poor and needy.

2 Preserve my soul, for I am godly. You, my God, save your servant who trusts in you.

3 Be merciful to me, Lord, for I call to you all day long.

4 Bring joy to the soul of your servant, for to you, Lord, do I lift up my soul.

5 For you, Lord, are good, and ready to forgive; abundant in loving kindness to all those who call on you.

6 Hear, Yahweh, my prayer. Listen to the voice of my petitions.

7 In the day of my trouble I will call on you, for you will answer me.

8 There is no one like you among the gods, Lord, nor any deeds like your deeds.

9 All nations you have made will come and worship before you, Lord. They shall glorify your name.

10 For you are great, and do wondrous things. You are God alone.

11 Teach me your way, Yahweh. I will walk in your truth. Make my heart undivided to fear your name.

12 I will praise you, Lord my God, with my whole heart. I will glorify your name forever more.

13 For your loving kindness is great toward me. You have delivered my soul from the lowest Sheol.

14 God, the proud have risen up against me. A company of violent men have sought after my soul, and they don’t hold regard for you before them.

15 But you, Lord, are a merciful and gracious God, slow to anger, and abundant in loving kindness and truth.

16 Turn to me, and have mercy on me! Give your strength to your servant. Save the son of your servant.

17 Show me a sign of your goodness, that those who hate me may see it, and be shamed, because you, Yahweh, have helped me, and comforted me.

World English Bible · Read it in another translation

Keep this verse

Numbers 6:24-26

Aaron's blessing, 'may the Lord bless and keep you and make his face to shine upon you'

24 ‘Yahweh bless you, and keep you.

25 Yahweh make his face to shine on you, and be gracious to you.

26 Yahweh lift up his face toward you, and give you peace.’

World English Bible · Read it in another translation

Keep this verse

Recap

The message in order, in a few minutes of reading.

Pastor Stan walked through the entire book of Jonah, four chapters in one sitting, because Jesus had pointed to "the sign of Jonah" the previous week in the Harmony of the Gospels series and the story deserved a fuller look. The sermon tracked Jonah's repeated refusals and God's patient, sometimes darkly comic, response. The central question the book presses on the reader is whether we are genuinely glad that God loves the people we have written off.

What was said

Jonah was an unusual prophet before the book even opens. His one other appearance in the Old Testament shows him telling the wicked king Jeroboam the second that everything was fine when it was not, while the prophet Amos told the same king the harder truth. That background matters, because Jonah arrives in his own book already carrying a distorted picture of who deserves God's favor.

When God told Jonah to go east to Nineveh, Jonah went as far west as he could get, paying his own fare to Tarshish. Pastor Stan pointed out the absurdity of trying to flee an omnipresent God on a boat that God made, crossing a sea that God made. The flight was not confusion about theology. Jonah knew exactly who God was and exactly what God was likely to do with Nineveh if Jonah showed up, and he wanted no part of it.

The sailors on that boat behaved better than the prophet. They worked, they prayed, they tried to row back to land rather than throw Jonah over, and when they finally did as Jonah asked, they called out to the Lord by name and worried about innocent blood being on their hands. When the sea calmed, they feared God and made vows to Him. A disobedient prophet's worst moment became the occasion for a group of pagan sailors to come to faith.

Jonah's prayer from inside the fish reads as only a partial repentance. Pastor Stan noted that compared to Isaiah, Peter, or David in Psalm 51, Jonah states facts more than he confesses sin. God still answered and the fish deposited him on dry land, and then God gave the exact same command a second time. Jonah went to Nineveh. His message was five words in Hebrew, something like "forty days and Nineveh is overthrown," with no explanation of sin, no Roman road, no mention of God by name.

The entire city believed anyway, from the poorest resident to the king, who stepped off his throne, put on sackcloth, sat in ashes, and issued a citywide fast that included the livestock. When God saw them turn, He relented. Pastor Stan let that land quietly: a reluctant prophet, a sabotaged-sounding message, and the greatest recorded mass turning to God in the whole story.

Chapter four is where the book shows its hand. Jonah was furious. He told God plainly that this was exactly why he had run, because he knew God was gracious and merciful and slow to anger, and he did not want that mercy extended to Nineveh. He asked to die three times before the book ends. God's response was to grow a plant over him, let a worm kill it the next morning, and then ask Jonah whether he had any right to be angrier about a plant than God would have about 120,000 people. The book ends on that question, unanswered, which Pastor Stan said is the point: the satire is aimed at the reader as much as at Jonah.

The closing application was direct. Nineveh can be replaced with whatever group a person has quietly decided is beyond caring about, whether a political party, an ideological movement, or anyone a listener has decided is consciously against God. Pastor Stan's point was that God's posture toward enemies is not surprise but pity, and that Jonah's story is worth sitting with because every person in the room started out as one of God's enemies before grace reached them.

Doing a Bible study?

Here is a guide we have prepared for you: the passages in order, questions for the group, and room to write.

The pastor pointed out that Jonah had previously delivered a favorable message to an evil king and turned out to be wrong, while Amos delivered a hard message and turned out to be right. What do you think makes a person willing to deliver a hard word from God rather than a comfortable one?
The sailors, who were praying to their own gods, ended up fearing the Lord and making vows to Him after Jonah reluctantly told them the truth about who he was running from. What does it say to you that God used Jonah's disobedience to bring those men to faith?

and 3 more questions in the guide

Open the study guide

Read the full transcript 7,541 words

Find in this transcript

Speaker 1Welcome. We're glad that you're here if you would. Stan, we're going to sing a few songs. I think we're going to start off with oh worship the king. Oh worship the king, all glorious above and gratefully sing of his wonderful love.

Glad to be here this morning. Glad y'all are here too.

Speaker 2Our

Speaker 1Amen. Amen. We're gonna sing wonderful grace of Jesus. Do you know your part on this one? There are hymnals available if you wanna come get em.

It's hymn number three thirty eight but just sing what comes to you, alright? Some of the words are gonna come up on the wall, not all of your parts, alright? So, you can follow me. I'll sing most of them. Let's sing it like you mean it either way.

Speaker 2Wonderful grace of Jesus greater than all my sin. How shall my tongue describe it? Where shall its praise begin? Wonderful, the matchless grace of Jesus, deeper than the mighty rolling sea. Higher than the mountain sparkling like a fountain, reaching to all the lost.

By it, I have been pardoned, save to the uttermost.

Speaker 1Amen. I was just about out of reach. Y'all can have a have a seat. I have a few announcements. Monday nights at first B is happening.

Tomorrow night, Florine will be doing the music, leading the music, and Nick will be bringing the message. Please, consider. Come to Monday night. It is so good. Florine did quite a commercial for it this morning.

It's great. Come hang out at Monday nights. We'll have meal, music, and a message tomorrow night, 6PM down the hall. Now, usually, that goes on at the same time as Awana but because it's spring break, there's no Awana going on tomorrow night. So, no on Awana but if you say, hey, I usually I volunteer to one.

I'm used to going there on Monday nights. Anyway, come on down the hall and come to Monday nights. The if gathering, there was an if gathering here at the church just a few weeks back, three weeks or so back and there's going to be another one. If women's conference is going to be held in Bondurant, May the sixth and the seventh at the Heart to Heart Ranch, that's laying in Norris Brown's place down in Bondurant. May sixth and seventh.

At this point, that's probably enough. That's just plan on being there, ladies, if you you would but if you want to know more, you can register at bondurantfellowship.org and you can have your questions answered there and I think that's the last announcement that I remember because it had no other ones are coming up on the screen. But there was a young lady this morning, Josh and Leah Gibson have a little baby girl that was dedicated here this morning. So Endsley, Evan, Gibson was dedicated here this morning and and kind of before the first service, I asked that we would help as a church to raise this child up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord and it's good to see God add into our number with people coming in to asking for membership or asking for baptism. We had another young man after the service that met up with me and said, I believe in Jesus and I and I wanna be, I know that I'm saved.

I wanna be baptized. So, that's coming soon too. Just to kinda fill you in is what's going on. Anything else? Anybody else?

Barry. That's my car. Thanks. Yeah. Yep.

It it it did. It got hit after a Bible study last week but it's be in name of the

Speaker 2Great is the Lord. He is holy and just. By his power, we trust in his love. Great is the Lord. He is faithful and true.

By his mercy, he proves Great is the Lord. He is holy and just. By his power, we trust in his love. Great is the Lord. He is faithful and true.

By his mercy, he proves Amen.

Speaker 1And is there not some coming up? Okay. Would y'all have a seat? Sometimes I get ahead of myself. Oh, there is a redeemer.

There is a song right there. Okay. I thought there was. Here we go. There is indeed a redeemer.

Amen. Y'all can have a seat now. Thank you. And I'm gonna invite the ushers to come forward. This is the time for the worship through giving or the offering time.

Would you just pray with me? God, we are so thankful to be gathered in your house this morning. I'm just blown away by springtime, lord. I'm so thankful for new life and new hope for the anticipation ahead of us, Lord. I thank you.

May we live expectantly looking for you at every turn. In Jesus name, Lord, we ask that you would use us, your servants. I pray, Lord, that we'd be humble and obedient, and we would be able to be used by you. You say throughout scripture that you oppose the proud, but you give grace to the humble. May we, lord, be those humble servants that are going out and placing ourselves in these plates that we put our time and our resources, our energy, as well as our financial resources too, lord.

I pray for each of the families that are going out on spring break. Some of them I know have gone out with the intent to serve you and build up your kingdom. Some are building churches in Mexico and others are traveling to various parts and, they have the evangel in their hearts. And lord, they want to have it in their mouths and they want for it to find fertile soil. In Jesus name, I ask your blessing on this time where we do take an academic break and in a lot of cases, just get on the road.

I pray for safety. Lord, but I pray that you'd use us to advance your good gospel, that your will would be done in your way among us and through us. In Jesus name, amen. Thank you, Judy. That's the whole Easter story from minor to major.

Key right there. It's beautiful. This morning, I see I've been doing a New Testament study virtually the whole time that I've been here. It's been one New Testament book after another in the order that I think that they were written. And you see up here, the book of Jonah.

That's what we're gonna cover today. Well, last week, if you were here in the Harmony of the Gospels study that we've been doing for a long time now, Jesus mentioned to the Pharisees and the scribes, the scribes and the Pharisees said, do a sign for us, kinda commanding him to do a sign from heaven for us right now. Well, they just saw him heal a mute and blind man and Jesus said, it is an evil and adulterous generation who asks for a sign And because they weren't asking for themselves. It was not a call of faith. They were saying prove it, which is kinda demanding.

You shall not tempt the Lord your God. Right? So he said, no sign is gonna be given to you except for the sign of Jonah. The sign of Jonah is this and we'll get to it in in here and when I mentioned it, I gave a little two second explication of the book of Jonah but I didn't really go all the way into it and all week long, I thought, I gotta I gotta cover that. So, here we go.

We're gonna do the whole book of Jonah today. So, if you how many of y'all been reading with us in first b in the Bible? So, we've reread Luke seven of 49 verses on Monday. Luke eight was 56 verses. Luke is long.

Mine was the one for Sunday or for Monday last week and I said, Luke is long. You know, 49 verses in Luke seven, fifty six verses in Luke eight, sixty two verses in Luke nine, Luke 10 is 42. That's the shortest one this week and then 54 verses in the next one. Well, the whole book of Jonah is only 48 verses long. There are four chapters and the four chapters, the first and the third chapter are Jonah and the sailors and Jonah and the Ninevites.

That's the first and third chapter. The second chapter is Jonah's first prayer where he's speaking to God. It doesn't give an answer from God at that point and then in the fourth chapter, it's Jonah's prayer where he gets really honest with God and then God is honest with him back and so that's what we're gonna look at. The whole book of Jonah but think about that. Some of it is about Jonah and the people he's around, first and third chapter and then some of it's about Jonah's direct relationship with God, second and fourth chapter.

So, we're gonna go in that. Now, before I start, I wanna mention a couple of things. Jonah is a weird prophet. He's only mentioned one other time in the Old Testament. In the New Testament, several of the two of the gospels mentioned the sign of Jonah.

So, his name is mentioned and he's mentioned a couple times in the New Testament but in the Old Testament, he's only shows up one other time and it's during the reign of Jeroboam the second. Jeroboam the second was an evil king. As kings go, he was among the worst of the worst. Maybe not the worst but he's in the top five bad guys, right? He's not a good guy.

Jeroboam the second. And so, during Jeroboam the second's reign, Israel actually had quite the wealth and prominence during his reign but that doesn't mean that he was good, Okay? He was not good. Jonah went to Jeroboam the second as a prophet to purporting to be the prophet of the Lord and he said, God's favor is with you, Jeroboam the second. God's favor is with you.

Everything's hunky dory. Keep on doing what you're doing. Two thumbs up. Well, Jeroboam was a bad guy. That's not true.

What Jonah's message was for him was basically, things look like they're going pretty well. They're going well. Amos comes along. Amos, remember Amos from the other prophet Amos? Amos, the one who's minding his own business, tending his sycamore figs and the word of the Lord came to him and said, deliver this message.

Yeah, That guy. So he also went to Jeroboam and he said, God's justice is being overlooked in this kingdom. You are not doing what you should be doing and God's justice is against you and not long later, they were conquered by the Assyrians. So, Amos was right. Jonah was wrong.

Now, we're gonna read the book of Jonah and in this book, normally, when you get to one of the prophets, whether they be major, they're longer books or minor, they're shorter books. You get to one of the prophets and it says, the word of the Lord came to whoever and said, this is my message for so and so, go deliver it and then they faithfully go and they deliver the message that God gives to him. If you look at Jeremiah, he faithfully delivers God's message for forty years and every time any burn, anybody burns it or ties it on a rock and throws it in the river, God says, Jonah, I mean, Jeremiah, deliver this message and he gives them the same message. Right? So usually, the word of the Lord comes to the prophet and then the story of that prophet's book is him carrying out that message to whoever God sent him to.

That's the norm. In Jonah, it's not about the message so much as it is about the prophet. And the prophet of God doesn't act like you would expect a prophet of God to act. Not anything like it. Usually, you expect them to be righteous and and care deeply even though they've got hard a hard message sometimes, they care and they're presenting it the message from God.

Jonah, you just see about Jonah. So, here we go. We'll go straight into it. The first part, this is the whole enchilada. I'm using the English standard version of the Bible today.

Usually, I use New American but New American Standard for me in in in the New Testament, translating from the Greek, the New American Standard sounds the most like I speak. That's the reason I use that one. So it's easiest for me to understand. It also keeps the conjunctions at the beginning of the sentence so you know how to tie everything together. But Jonah, I'm using English standard version, and the introductory matters have kinda already covered.

We know who Jonah is. He's only mentioned that other one time, and then we get to know him pretty quickly in the first couple of verses here. This is a very typical start for one of the minor prophets. Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah, the son of Amittai. Okay.

Great. That's the way all of the prophets usually begin. The second verse says what the message was. Arise, Jonah, and go to Nineveh, that great city. That's quite a characterization.

Go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it for their evil has come up before me. There's no doubt about it that Nineveh is an evil city, and there's no doubt about God already knows that. He doesn't need anybody else to tell him. He knows that Nineveh is evil. Arise and go to Nineveh, that great city to call out against it for their evil has come up before me.

But, oh boy, this is taking a turn. Usually, you just see the prophet arise and go to that city and tell him what God said to say but but Jonah rose but he rose to flee. He rose to flee to Tarshish. Now, if you are where Jonah was, Nineveh to the East and Tarshish is to the West and Jonah rose to flee to Tarshish to get as far away from the presence of the Lord as he could. He went down to Joppa, found a ship going to Tarshish, and so he paid the fare.

He's going to great lengths, literally. He's paying to get away. He paid the fare and he went down into it to go with them to Tarshish, which is not Nineveh, not even close. Away from the presence of the Lord. Second time it said that he was trying to get away from the presence of the Lord.

Now, when you have a god who is almighty and is omnipresent, where do you go to get away from him? Okay. There's nowhere to go. Tarshish is where he thought he would go to get away from the presence of the Lord. It's as far from Nineveh as he could get.

But, oh, boy. The Lord hurled a great wind upon the sea and there was a mighty tempest on the sea so that the ship threatened to break up. Now there's a twist in the story. Then the mariners, the sailors now I mentioned that Jonah, the prophet, doesn't act like you expect him to act, but take a look at these sailors. You know, cussing like a sailor is a term.

Right? You expect sailors to act a certain way. They spend money like a drunken sailor. There are all these different kinds of sailor talk. You expect them to act in a certain way.

You expect Jonah to act in a certain way. Listen to this. The mariners were afraid, and each of them cried out to his God. Now that sounds kinda like sailors. They are superstitious.

Right? But they're calling out to each one to his, small g, God. And they hurled the cargo that was in the ship into the sea to lighten it for them. Well, that's a normal response. You've got flotsam and jetsam.

You jettison all the jetsam and get it out of there so you see a ship sits higher in the water. They hurled the cargo that was in the ship into the sea to lighten it for them, but Jonah, lazy joker, had gone down into the inner part of the ship, and he had lain down and he was fast asleep, running from God and completely oblivious. So the captain came down and said to him, what do you mean, you sleeper? Lazy, good for nothing guy. We're all up here.

We're all praying to our gods, and we're throwing stuff overboard, and you're just down here sleeping. What do you mean, you sleeper? You arise. You call out to your small g God because that's his norm. This guy is not a Hebrew.

This guy is not a prophet. He's a sailor. He's a sailing captain. Pretty rough guy probably but he says, you arise and you call out to your God and perhaps that God will give a thought to us that we may not perish. We're doing everything we can.

You ought to be doing everything you can too and they said to one another, all the sailors, mariners, come let us cast lots that we may know on whose account this evil has come upon us. Now, when you see that, some of us, baptist good baptist, right? You're sitting there and you're going, gambling. Oh my goodness. They're casting lots.

Well, that was a fairly normal way of determining what was the will of God at the time or will of small g gods especially but it's not even uncommon for the Hebrews. When they had two candidates at the end of Acts one, they had two candidates. Who is gonna be? Justice or Matthias? Who's gonna take Judas' place?

What did the disciples do? They cast lots. Cast lots to see. That's Acts one. Now, in Acts two, the Holy Spirit, Pentecost comes and we never see followers of God using lots to make a decision anymore.

The Holy Spirit doesn't speak out of both sides of his mouth. If we are believers and we are humble before God, he doesn't speak out of both sides of his mouth. We will be unified if we listen to the Holy Spirit. We don't need to cast lots But it said they did cast lots that we may know whose account this evil has come upon us, so they cast lots and the lot fell on Jonah. Well, alright.

Indeed, it was his fault. Right? It says flatly that God caused the tempest because of Jonah. Then they said to him to Jonah, tell us on whose account this evil has come upon us. The cast, the lots, and the lot fell to him, and then they asked him straight up.

You tell us. I wanna hear it from you. And he was honest with him. Actually, they asked him a bunch of questions first. What is your occupation?

Okay. We all know he's a prophet of God. Where do you come from? What is your country? And what of what people are you?

And he said to him, I'm a Hebrew, which is true. And I and I fear the Lord. He must not have been fearing him too much if he ran the other direction. Right? But he does.

He he he told him, I'm a Hebrew. I fear the Lord, the God of heaven. Capital g. This is almighty God. Now, this is probably not the whole of everything he said to him because it says, I'll I'll show you in a minute.

I'm a Hebrew and I fear the Lord, the God of heaven who made the sea and the dry land. How silly it would be to run from him on a boat. If you know he made it all, right? To hide from God. Then the men were exceedingly afraid and said to him, what is this that you have done?

I mean, you have gotten a word from your God and you not just ignored it but you fled from it. What in the world were you thinking? These are the pagans. Right? What is this that you have done for the men knew that he was fleeing from the presence of the Lord because he told them.

He told them what happened. He's honest with them. And then they said to him, what shall we do to you? I mean, what can we do to get out of this mess that you put us in? What shall we do to you that the sea may quiet down for us?

We don't wanna die because of your ignorant move or your disobedient move. For the sea grew more and more tempestuous. Can you imagine? What shall we do to you so that the sea may quiet down for us? And he said to him, pick me up and hurl me into the sea.

Now, he's asking for attempted for assisted suicide. Yeah, assisted suicide. He said, just throw me over. Woe is me. I ran from him once.

I don't wanna deliver the message. I don't wanna do that. Pick me up. Throw me into the sea and the sea will quiet down for you because I'll be done with then. For I know it's because of me that this great tempest has come upon you.

Nevertheless, the men rode hard to get back to land. They didn't wanna kill him. They know that's right. I mean, every every society knows that that's not right. And so they did what they could.

They were being as industrious as they could be. The men rode hard to get back to dry land, but they could not for the sea grew more and more tempestuous against them. It got worse and worse. And for all they were doing to row back, they couldn't get it there. Therefore, they called out to the capital l lord.

Think about that. Jonah, prophet of God. He speaks for the Lord and when he told the truth and said, I am a Hebrew. I fear the Lord. I didn't do what he said.

Here I am. This is why you're in this situation and that was enough for them to call upon the Lord. Therefore, they called out to the Lord. Oh Lord, let us not perish for this man's life. Save us, lord.

Save us and lay not on us this innocent blood. For you, oh Lord, you have done just as it pleased you. They recognized God's goodness and his sovereignty and didn't want the repercussions for killing this man even though he was begging him to do it. So they picked up Jonah and they hurl him into the sea while they're praying. Lord, don't hold his blood against us.

We don't know another way out of this and the sea ceased from its raging. Those guys were saved from the great tempest and then the men feared the Lord exceedingly. No, not just kind of that he shared who God was and they called out to him. It says, they feared. That's the beginning of wisdom.

They feared the Lord exceedingly and they offered a sacrifice to the Lord and they made vows to him. That's an effective missions ministry right there. And it's not the way that I would have done it, not the way I hope that God would do it but you know what? God is going to work either through your humble obedience or in spite of your and I I keep coming up with this word. It's stubbornness in Spanish.

It's. It's worse than stubborn. You can either be stubborn and hold on to all of your preconceived notions, hatred, insecurities, and your hatred or you can just say, God, may it be to me just as you have said and humble service. The men feared the Lord exceedingly and they offered a sacrifice to the Lord and they made vows and the Lord appointed a great fish to swallow up Jonah. This book is not about this fish, okay?

This fish is it stops the sermon. So often, people get entangled in, well, there's proof or no way that could ever happen or how in the world did this happen? What in what but it says flatly, God appointed a great fish, mega fish, okay? It's not it's not, doesn't say whale. Whale is a translation people have used but the Lord appointed a great fish to swallow up Jonah.

And Jonah was in the belly of the fish for three days and three nights. That's what Jesus was quoting to the Pharisees and scribes last week. No sign will be given to you except for the sign of Jonah just as Jonah was in the the the the name name Jonah's prayer. It is a very weak prayer of repentance if it is indeed a prayer of repentance. We have a lot of prayers of repentance in the Bible.

We have Isaiah the prophet that's like, oh, I am a man of unclean lips and I dwell among a peace of unclean lips. Lord God, I remove yourself from it. We have em in the New Testament. Peter says, oh, I'm a thoroughly sinful man. Get away from me.

I cannot take it. We have David in Psalm 51. Oh Lord, against you and you only have I sinned. Psalm one thirty nine, search me, oh God. Cleanse me.

Please, if there be any wicked way in me and there is. Cleanse me and I will be made right because of you. So, this one, Jonah's stating the obvious in some cases and it's pretty poetic but we'll go through chapter two rather quickly. It seems like a pretty weak prayer of repentance if it is indeed of repentance. He's definitely in a in a tough spot.

Jonah prayed to the Lord, his God, from the belly of the fish saying, I called out to the Lord out of my distress and he answered me. That sounds like Psalm 86 actually. On my day of trouble, I will call out to you because you answered me. Out of the belly of Sheol, I cried and you heard my voice. For you cast me into the deep, into the heart of the seas, and the flood surrounded me, and all your waves and your billows passed over me.

And then I said, I am driven away from your sight, Yet, I shall look again upon your holy temple. He was fleeing the Lord and he's admitting that. I am driven away from your sight. Yet, I shall look again upon your holy temple. The waters closed in over me to take my life and the deep surrounded me.

Weeds were wrapped around my head. Imagine bleached white from the gases and oil stomach with seaweed all around your head. I'm at the roots of the mountains. I went down to the land whose bars closed up upon me forever. Yet you brought up my life from the pit, oh Lord, my God.

When my life was fainting away, I remembered the Lord and my prayer came to you and to your holy temple. Those who pay regard to vain idols forsake their hope of steadfast love. Now, that is something that he knows to be true. Those who pay regard to vain idols forsake their hope of steadfast love but think about the truth that God had just performed in those sailors' lives. It said, each one of them was praying to their small g God and they were making their sacrifices and they were doing everything they could with their small g gods.

But then, when they found the truth that Jonah begrudgingly shared with them, they accepted it. And so those who pay regard to vain idols forsake their hope of steadfast love. It's funny that the guys in the boat are saved, and Jonah's in the belly of a fish right now. His idolatry was not nearly as evident as those other guys, but he had something that he had held on to, and it was causing him a lot of pain. Forsake the hope of steadfast love, but I with the voice of thanksgiving, I will sacrifice to you what I have vowed, I will pay.

Yes, God. I'll do as you told me. Salvation belongs to the Lord and indeed it does. He can save whoever he wants to. We sang a song in the first service that he's mighty to save.

My God is mighty to save. He is and he is reaching out to the rest of the world. He goes before us. Two ten, last verse says, and the Lord spoke to the fish and it vomited Jonah out upon the dry land. What it is.

A lot of times we stop right there. Oh, he got saved from the fish. He ran from God and he realized it and he got vomited out on the dry land but listen to this. Now, it's not the sailors and it's not just Jonah to God but this is gonna be Jonah to the people of Nineveh which are the people God said arise and go to Nineveh. So, it says, then the word of the Lord came to Jonah for the second time saying, arise and go to Nineveh.

Same thing he said the first time. Go to that great city. Same thing he said the first time. Call out against it the message that I tell you. It doesn't surprise me that they're evil.

I know they're evil. You don't have to tell me. But go to it. Call out against the message that I tell you. So, Jonah arose and he went to Nineveh.

Oh, thank you. Thank you. He did what he was commanded. According to the word of the Lord and Nineveh was an exceedingly great city. It was three days journey in breath.

He says, walking across it would take you three days. Jonah began to go into the city, go on a day's journey, and he called out and this is his message. In Hebrew, it's only five words long. I mean, it's a little longer in English. We got eight words up here but think about that.

How many of y'all pray for an eight word message? You know, when you're coming in, I like the song service but that preaching. His five word message was this, yet forty days and Nineveh shall be overthrown. Now, I'm not a Hebrew expert but I have looked up kind of the the definition of overthrown. And it can, on the one hand, mean destroyed, but it also means transformed or changed.

And so the message was, yet forty days, forty days from now, when he started proclaiming the message, and Nineveh will be turned upside down. And there's no doubt about the way Jonah took that. There's no doubt about the way the people of Nineveh took that, but let's keep an open mind about it. Yet, forty days and Nineveh shall be overthrown and the people of Nineveh believed God. Wow.

Have you all heard lots of missionary moments from this pulpit up here? Have you all heard people say, we went on a mission trip. There was one person that walked the aisle. This is the people of Nineveh, all of them. Wow.

Believed God. They called for a fast and they put on sackcloth. This sounds like a grassroots uprising almost and the people of Nineveh believed God yet forty days and Nineveh shall be overthrown and they believed God and they called for a fast and they put on sackcloth for from the greatest of them down to the least of them and just to be sure that you got it, it says, the word reached the king of Nineveh. What do you expect of an evil king? You expect him to do bad.

That's right. That's exactly what you expect. He's a he's a wealthiest, most powerful guy in a great city and you expect that the evil king doubles down and says, nope. We're not going to have this nonsense. We're going to keep the status quo.

I'm in charge. I'm going say what happens here but it says that he arose from his throne and in humility, he removed his robe. He covered himself with sackcloth and he sat in ashes. That is ineffective, humbling of oneself. And then it says, he, the king, issued a proclamation and published it throughout all of Nineveh.

By the decree of the king and his nobles. Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste anything. He's calling for a national or a a citywide fast. Let them not feed nor drink water. We are looking at this message and taking it seriously.

Let but let man and beast be covered in sackcloth and let them call out mightily to capital g, God. They believed God. This reluctant prophet shared a message which sounds like he almost tried to sabotage his own message. Yet, forty days. He doesn't mention God.

He doesn't mention their sin. He doesn't share the Roman road. He just goes and says, forty days and Nineveh is gonna be overturned. The king says, let everyone turn from his evil way and from the violence that is in his hands. We can't keep living the way we're living.

Who knows? God almighty may turn and relent and turn from his fierce anger so that we may not perish. Ain't that something? Who knows? But God may turn and relent and turn from his fierce anger so that we may not perish And when God saw what they did, they believed him.

When God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil way, God relented of the disaster that he said he would do to them and he did not do it. Wow. Wow. That is an accepting the good news, and it changes things. That's the end of chapter three.

Here we are in the last chapter, chapter four. So now we've covered we'll call it his ministry. Jonah's ministry to the sailors, they get saved. Captain, saved. We see in the people of Nineveh.

People of Nineveh, saved. King, saved. And now, we're gonna get down to brass tacks with Jonah. It displeased Jonah exceedingly. It displeased Jonah exceedingly and he was angry.

And he prayed. I told you it wasn't about the fish, right? This is not about the fish. He was displeased exceedingly and he was angry and he prayed to the Lord and this is an honest prayer. Oh Lord, is not this what I said when I was yet in my own country?

That's why I made haste to flee to Tarshish. I wasn't afraid of Nineveh. I hate them. I don't like these people. They're evil people and I hate them.

And I know you. And I know that you're a gracious God, and I know that you're merciful, and I know that you're slow to anger, and I know that you're abounding in steadfast love, and I know that you're relenting for disaster, and God, they deserve it. They deserve whatever hell you give them. I knew you were going to say it. I knew.

That's why I didn't want to go do it. I knew that your gracious God, merciful, slow to anger, bounding, and steadfast love, and relenting for disaster. So, here he goes again. Therefore, now, oh Lord, please, just kill me now. Take my life from me for it's better for me to die than to live.

I don't want to have any part of a world where the Ninevites are alright. And the Lord said, he answers him. Do you do well to be angry? Just think about that. Do you do well to be angry, Jonah?

In the belly of the fish, he said, salvation belongs to God. He can give it to whoever he wants to and now he's saying, they don't deserve it. Well, the truth is Jonah doesn't deserve it either. Truth is we don't deserve it either. We're enemies of God until we accept the gracious gift that he's offered.

The Lord said, do you do well to be angry? So, Jonah went out of the city and he sat to the east of the city and he made a booth for himself there and he sat under it in the shade. So, that was a common thing for him to do is make a little lean to something out of reeds, you know, and he made a little little tent set up for him and he sat under it in the shade until he should see what would become of the city. He knew that the word of the Lord is true and he knew the message was forty days and it's gonna be overturned. So he takes a vantage point east up above the city and the hills and he's looking down on it expecting fire and brimstone because that's what they deserve.

But he did see him turn and so he's just waiting to see what would happen. What would become of this city? Now, the Lord God appointed. He appointed that fish. He also appointed Jonah.

He also appointed a plant and it says, the Lord God appointed a plant. He made it come up over Jonah that it might be a shade over his head. A shade over his head to save him from his discomfort. I imagine the acids in a great fish's belly would be kinda detrimental to your derma dermis layer, right? It's kinda hard but he was he was uncomfortable in the sunshine.

It might be a shade over his head to save him from his discomfort. So, Jonah was exceedingly glad. He was exceedingly angry that God was relenting the disaster, but he's exceedingly glad because of that plant. His own comfort was fine. But when dawn came up the next day, God appointed a worm that attacked the plant.

This is a satire. Are y'all getting that? I mean, I believe it's true. Don't get me wrong, but it's a satire. It is it is an they're everybody's acting different than you expect them to act, and it's making a point.

We're almost to the end. There are only 11 verses, I think, 10 or 11 verses in this chapter. When dawn came up the next day, God appointed a worm that attacked the plant so that that plant withered and when the when the sun arose, God appointed a scorching east wind and the sun beat down on the head of Jonas so that he was faint and he asked that he might die and said, it's better for me to die and live. This is three times that Jonah has just asked for God to kill him now. He asked the sailors and then he's like, oh, I can't even live in this kind of world.

Just kill me now. It's better for me to die than to live but God said to Jonah, do you do well to be angry for that plant? Think about that. Do you do well, Jonah, to be angry? This kind of reminds me of Cain and Abel.

After Cain slew Abel, God spoke to him directly and said, hey, if you if you didn't, if you did what was right, what what treated you well? You know, you you know better, Cain. It was a gracious and merciful and Cain didn't want to have him part of it. He did still save his life. Jonah, God said to Jonah, do you do well to be angry for this plan?

And he said, yes, I do well. Boy, that's bold language to God almighty. Yes, I do well to be angry. Angry enough to die. I don't want to have anything to do with this whole world, these people, anything to do with this.

They don't deserve it. They don't deserve to be saved. Yes, I do well to be angry. I'm right. Just kill me now.

And the Lord said, you pity that plant for which you did not labor nor did you make it grow, which came into being in one night and perished in one night. And you have more sympathy for that plant. And then last verse, eleventh verse, is this chapter. It ends with a question. It's a question for him.

It's also a question for us. Let's get the question for him first. I and shouldn't not I, Lord God almighty, and should not I pity Nineveh, that great city. It's a great city in which there are more than a 120,000 persons who do not know their right hand from their left and to boot and also much cattle. Now he's comparing that as a plant.

Right? It's one plant that he caused to grow and die two days. That's it. Grow one day, die the next. And he's saying, there are 120,000 people there, and they've been taking care of these cows the whole time that they've been alive.

You don't care if I smite all of them and their cows die from neglect after they're all gone. God's mighty to save. That's what he wants to do. He wants a relationship with us. We're all start off as enemies of God, and our own hatred and preconceived notions about other people's groups.

We can get really easily get to the position of Jonah where we feel like we're right and they're wrong. We're right, and I hate them for doing what they do. They are against God. That doesn't surprise God. Everybody's against God.

We can get in a place where we just don't care about other people. It's me, my foreign, no more, me, my church, and no more instead of caring about every tribe, tongue, and nation, and every self identifying group. Now for some of y'all, you might replace Nineveh with the Democrats, and some of you might replace Nineveh with the Republicans, and some of you might replace that with a group that self identifies that you know they are consciously and adamantly against God. Should I not pity those people, God says? Should I not pity them?

It doesn't surprise me that they act the way that they act. I care for them. I've given you a message that you are to share with them in the way you live your life and the way that you use your words. And hatred is not a part of that message. I love them and I loved you.

And just because I saved you first doesn't mean that I won't save them next. So, the question there is, should God not pity evil people? And should we not also? The book is honestly, it's trying to mess with us. The satire of the whole thing is, are you okay with God loving your enemies?

Aren't you glad that God loves his enemies? Because that's the way we all start out. You know? God almighty, we call on you. We ask, lord, that you would use us, that you'd soften our hearts toward outsiders, that we would not compromise the truth of your word, but lord, that we would absolutely see this world overturned in the same way Nineveh was overturned.

Would you use us as a part of your plan? We humble ourselves in obedience. And, Lord, pray that we would never have to be used in spite of our disobedience. Would you soften our hearts toward those around us? And would you place that message that is in our hearts that we understand?

Would you allow it to come out in our actions and in our words? In Jesus name, we thank you for your amazing grace. Amen. Would you all stand with me? I think Judy's got amazing graces picked out for the last song and how pertinent that is.

The fact that it exist at all, that God's grace exist at all is what's amazing about it because he doesn't have to. He didn't have to save any of us. While we were wretches, he died for us. Watch the key chains. I have the ironic blessing for you, not the ironic blessing.

It's the ironic blessing from Aaron in Numbers where he says, may the Lord bless and keep you and may he make his face to shine upon you and give you peace and lord, I pray that we would be sharing that peace with a tumultuous and tempestuous world around us. Lord, we ask it in your name. Amen.

Topics

Book Of Jonah Loving Your Enemies Missions Repentance Running From God

Recap

What was said

Doing a Bible study?

Topics

Share this message

Come find us